Facebook can alienate people further – study

Facebook can help you accumulate hundreds of instant friends, but people with low self-esteem should limit their woeful comments or risk losing their cyber pals, a study reports.

While the social media site is a convenient outlet to share feelings and maintain friendships, researchers have found people who had a poor opinion of themselves were more likely to post negative messages that irritated their existing online friends and alienated themselves further.

As part of their study, Canadian psychologists Amanda Forest and Joanne Wood asked a group of university students what they thought of Facebook, a website that has revolutionised social media and has more than 800 million members worldwide.